On the official road in Linzi County of the Empire, Gu Xun and Zhang Han walked leisurely side by side, one person and one horse.
Shortly after the conversation with Ying Zheng that day, Ying Zheng sent Zhang Han to lead the Shadow Secret Guard to Songhai to prepare for the eastward inspection of the mirage and the emperor's arrival.
Gu Xun simply left the convoy with Zhang Han.
As for the Eastern Patrol Team, they were far behind them.
Even if Ying Zheng is still anxious about sailing from the mirage and becoming immortal, he must first take care of the current situation of the empire.
He personally visited various counties in the east in order to suppress the unstable factors in various places with the dignity of the emperor. Therefore, he had to check every county and city along the way. The speed of the motorcade was really too fast.
"Sir, why are you in such a hurry to return to Songhai?" Zhang Han manipulated the reins and asked Gu Xun curiously.
Based on his understanding of Gu Xun, he should have left long ago.
Why did you stay in the motorcade for so many days and then leave suddenly?
"It's boring to stay, and it's easy to annoy people, so it's better to leave quickly." Gu Xun smiled and replied calmly.
He said it lightly, but Zhang Han's heart skipped a beat when he heard it.
Who doesn't know that in this world, only his great master Gu Guo has always disgusted other people? How could anyone dare to be disgusted with him?
It's not that no one has this idea, but no one dares to express it.
When Zhao Gao met Gu Xun, if he didn't smile enough, he wouldn't be able to deal with two slaps, let alone someone else.
But Gu Xun's answer was certainly not without purpose, so the identity of the 'person' he mentioned was...unspeakable.
Zhang Han is a staunch royalist, although he can be regarded as clearly siding with the captain and son faction.
But when it comes to loyalty, there is always only one sun in his heart - mainly because Ying Zheng was kind to him.
In his opinion, among His Majesty's many princes, only the eldest son Fusu is worthy of the great responsibility. This position of prince, and even the supreme position in the future, must belong to the eldest son.
By supporting the eldest son, he is only loyal to the future emperor in advance, and he is also loyal to the current emperor.
Even when the eldest son Fusu was demoted to the north, Zhang Han never gave up on supporting him.
On the one hand, he has been assigned to the eldest son Fusu by Ying Zheng, and he cannot leave the eldest son's faction no matter what.
On the other hand, he really didn't think that Fusu was out of luck.
He had seen a lot of the ups and downs of power, and he knew enough about the emperor.
It seems certain that the eldest son will lose power, but in fact... one word can release people, and naturally one word can bring them back.
In a word, it was a huge difference, so he didn't care too much about it.
What Zhang Han really focused on was Gu Xun, the Imperial Master and Crown Prince.
As long as Gu Xun, Fusu's teacher, is still the emperor's most valued, most concerned, and closest minister, then Fusu will not completely lose power.
But now, there seems to be a conflict between the sun he is most loyal to and the backer he cares about most...
This made Zhang Han very uneasy and confused.
The uneasiness is due to the worry that I will be caught in the middle, and maybe there will be people on both sides, and I will be affected.
The reason for the confusion is that I don’t know what to do...if there is really a rift between the monarch and the minister.
Gu Xun probably guessed that Zhang Han would have random thoughts, and reminded him with a smile, "Don't think too much, just do your job well."
Liusha always had reservations about Zhang Han, because Gu Xun and others knew that Zhang Han was more loyal to the emperor.
If he were to know the core plan of Liusha, God knows what kind of trouble would be caused.
However, Gu Xun had no intention of worrying about Zhang Han's loyalty, and he would not embarrass Zhang Han by putting him in the middle.
Zhang Han is free to choose whom to be loyal to. Liusha has no affiliation with the Shadow Guards, and he and himself can only barely be regarded as superiors and subordinates.
No matter where you look at it, there is no need for Zhang Han to be loyal to him.
Gu Xun's reminder was well-intentioned, but when Zhang Han heard it, it was difficult to calm down his emotions.
Gu Xun told him not to think too much, which was tantamount to admitting that they were at odds with each other.
"Last General...Last General..." Zhang Han clasped his fists and muttered, but he didn't know what to say.
This situation was something he never expected.
Although Zhang Han was used to seeing power struggles and official ups and downs, he never thought that Gu Xun would break with the emperor.
Gu Xun laughed when he saw this and continued, "Don't think too much about it, you are thinking more."
Zhang Han smiled bitterly, held his fists and replied in a deep voice, "I have overstepped my bounds. I hope you will forgive me."
Gu Xun raised his hand and waved it casually, "Don't worry, the emperor is not mean and ungrateful, and he won't take his anger out on you."
"Even if the sky falls, those of us who are tall will be the first to climb up."
"...I will eventually understand." Zhang Han opened his mouth, and finally could only reply like this.
As the commander of the Shadow Guards, he was considered a number one figure in the imperial officialdom. However, the dispute between Gu Xun and the emperor was not something he could comment on.
Gu Xun then directly changed the subject and asked, "How is the war in the north going?"
Zhang Han suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind and replied calmly, "General Meng Tian has begun to mobilize the border troops, and it should be time to launch a large-scale war with the wolf tribe."
Gu Xun nodded and said with a smile, "It seems that the outcome will soon come to an end in the north."
The mobility of the wolf army is generally higher than that of the imperial army. If necessary, Meng Tian will not move the army rashly, and will only use the equally mobile Golden Fire Cavalry to entangle them.
Now that we are going to provoke a large-scale war, we are sure of it.
Either they have completely convinced the foreign army under Mao Dun, or they are absolutely sure to deal with them.
No matter what, it's a good thing.
Of course, soldiers must observe the land of life and death.
Although Meng Tian is a general of the first generation, he cannot conclude that the Wolf Clan will definitely lose because of this. He still has to be cautious.
"Deploy more manpower and pay close attention to the war in the north." Gu Xun reminded Zhang Han.
There is no hope for the war in the south. We can only wait for the Lingqu Canal to be repaired. Fortunately, there will be no major problems.
You have to be more careful in the north to avoid worsening the situation.
"Yes." Zhang Han carefully accepted the order.
Although his main task now is to ensure the safety of the Eastern Patrol Team and Ying Zheng, it is also appropriate to allocate manpower to pay attention to the Northland.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After all, he is now under the command of the eldest son, and his direct superior is now in the North.
"What happened over there at Songhai?" After briefly understanding the situation in the North, Gu Xun turned to ask about Songhai.
"Sanghai has been calm in recent days." Zhang Han replied, "Neither the rebels nor the Yin Yang family members in the mirage have done anything."
Gu Xun smiled and couldn't help but nodded and said with emotion, "It's like the rain is about to come."
"Hurry up and send all your people there, be careful they give you a big surprise."
Zhang Han quickly replied, "Don't worry, sir, the general has ordered the main force of the Shadow Guard to rush to Songhai at full speed."
"Well..." Gu Xun nodded, "I can rest assured that you will do the work."
"But I still have to remind you that the Songhai incident involves far-reaching implications. You must do your best and leave no excuses!"
Zhang Han's heart trembled, and he solemnly nodded and replied, "Please rest assured, Sir, I will understand the importance of this."
Zhang Han is very capable, and the Shadow Guards are also very capable, but this does not mean that they can do everything perfectly.
The Shadow Guards were also involved in the Yishan incident, so it wasn't like they were unable to stop those assassins in advance.
Without knowing how many problems would arise within the empire, Zhang Han had to think of the worst case scenario.
Gu Xun was reminding him that the voyage from the mirage was of great importance, and any mistake that went wrong might incur Ying Zheng's wrath.
Of course, manpower is sometimes scarce.
Gu Xun's reminder was not to ask Zhang Han to make things watertight, but to remind him to make sure that even if something went wrong, there would be someone who would take the blame.
This is not to let Zhang Han pass the blame, but to ask him to be careful not to be tricked.
Ying Zheng is often unreasonable, but many times he is very reasonable.
For example, he generally won't do things like blaming others, and he doesn't allow others to do it.
Whoever is responsible is responsible.
As long as Zhang Han did not make any mistakes in his duties, Ying Zheng would never punish him severely, fearing that it would not be his own fault but others would blame it on him.
Zhang Han obviously understood the meaning of Gu Xun's words.
He has experienced this very recently.
In the battle of Daze Mountain, he was basically a complete victim, and he was also a hero. He saved Wang Li's life, stabilized some rebels, and prevented the situation from deteriorating to the most serious point.
Even so, he almost took the blame for Zhao Gao.
It was obvious that all the troubles were caused by the snare, but in the end, this guy was able to completely throw away the responsibility.
Thinking of this, even with Zhang Han's temperament, he couldn't help but feel depressed again.
He tentatively asked Gu Xun, "Sir, the trap is in Daze Mountain..."
Gu Xun raised his hand and interrupted him, "I know you will be unhappy, but...it's useless. Stop thinking about Daze Mountain."
"Zhao Gao also paid a certain price, but don't expect Luo Wang to suffer heavy losses as a result."
"It's a painless loss, just treat it as interest. If you want to calculate the general ledger, be patient and wait for the opportunity."
"...Yes." Zhang Han helplessly clasped his fists and replied with a wry smile.
If Zhang Han was most dissatisfied with the emperor Ying Zheng, it was Zhao Gao.
In fact, although he was wary of many snares in the past, he was far from being hostile.
It was Liusha and Gu Xun who had a direct and violent conflict with Luo Wang, not the Shadow Guard and Zhang Han.
The Shadow Guards are not affiliated with Luo Sheng, and naturally they will not casually list forces from the same dynasty as enemies.
But in recent times, Zhang Han has really seen what kind of organization Luowen is.
In the past, he only thought it was a poison-quenched blade that was difficult to control, but now he found that the knife had clearly penetrated the vital part of the empire, and he had to let the empire bleed from time to time.
The most hateful thing is that the emperor does not punish the snare even though it has become a weapon that hurts the enemy and even himself!
Gu Xun is quite open to this.
Ying Zheng is the emperor, but no matter how much meaning is behind this title or how much power it represents, it is just an identity.
An identity can change many things, but it cannot change the reality that Ying Zheng is just a person, an ordinary person.
He has no clairvoyance and has no ability to monitor what is happening in Daze Mountain in real time from thousands of miles away.
He also couldn't read minds, and couldn't tell whether Zhang Han or Zhao Gao had lied.
He could only judge from the rhetoric of both parties and the situation in Daze Mountain that it was normal to be disturbed.
Of course, maybe there is an intelligence network behind Ying Zheng that is different from the Shadow Guard and Luo Wang, which can provide him with more additional information, but... it will not help.
He is a human being, and those under his control are only human beings.
As for the chaos in Daze Mountain, no one could find out what happened except the people who were actually involved.
How many people in the world can hide in the dark and watch everything that happens in Daze Mountain without being discovered by masters from Mohist farmers, Guigu Taoists and many other sects?
Even Ying Zheng would find it difficult to arrange for such an expert to serve as an intelligence spy. What's more, if you want to monitor the entire Daze Mountain, you will need far more than one or two people.
Ying Zheng must be aware of the problem, but it is difficult for him to fully understand who has the problem and how big the problem is.
In fact, for Ying Zheng, the most appropriate thing to do is to directly depose both Zhao Gao and Zhang Han.
No matter who of you has a problem, I won’t use it anymore, and the problem will naturally disappear!
But he didn't do that.
One is because Ying Zheng did not want to harm the meritorious officials among them for no reason.
The second reason is that reality does not allow it. Once Zhang Han and Zhao Gao are deposed, it will be difficult for him to find suitable people to take over Shadow Guard and Luo Sheng.
These two organizations are very special and require extremely high professional standards from the people in charge. It is not possible to just put an individual in a carrot pit and make the organization run normally.
The nine ministers of the imperial court can be replaced at will, because with the assistance of the corresponding government officials, even if a dog is placed in that position, it will be difficult to cause problems in a short period of time.
However, for a special organization like an intelligence organization, once the level of leadership is insufficient, the overall strength will immediately decrease.
And the intelligence organization that pulls the hips is not worth as much as a newspaper!
Ying Zheng obviously didn't want to destroy the two most important weapons of the empire at this point in time, so he could only tolerate it for the time being.
As for whether he will settle the score, that is another matter.
After calming down his anger a little, Zhang Han took the initiative to change the topic:
"Sir, the new session of sword debate between heaven and man is about to begin."
"Heaven and man discuss swords?" Hearing these words, Gu Xun was stunned for a moment, and then realized what they meant. He patted his head and said, "Oh, yes, I almost forgot about this."
"How long exactly?"
"There is still a month or so." Zhang Han replied hesitantly, "Because of the important events such as the conferring of Zen on Mount Tai, this sword debate between heaven and man did not attract much attention, but I will be worried..."
"Are you worried that the snare will move?" Gu Xun glanced at him and made it clear.
Zhang Han said nothing and just nodded.
The net is aimed at Jianghu sects and hundreds of schools of thought, but Zhang Han actually doesn't care, as long as it doesn't harm the empire.
But Taoism, or Taoist Tianzong, is an exception.
Gu Xun thought about it and couldn't rule out this possibility. He could only continue to ask, "Are there any signs?"
Zhang Han smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Nothing has been found yet."
If he had discovered it, he wouldn't have hesitated to mention it.
Gu Xun frowned, "There is no sign...then just keep an eye on it first."
"The sword theory between heaven and man is different from the situation in Daze Mountain and Tai Mountain. It seems that Luo Yun has little room to intervene. Maybe it is just a false alarm."
"Your main focus is still on Songhai."
"Yes, I will understand!" Zhang Han immediately clasped his fists and accepted the order.
